Tribhuvan University Teachers’ Association (TUTA) today said it will launch a three-day relay hunger strike in front of the TU Vice-Chancellor’s Office in Kirtipur to press the government and the TU to address their 23-point charter of demands.

“The TU administration is yet to implement the agreement it had reached with TUTA on September 25, 2012. Therefore, we have been compelled to launch a relay hunger strike from tomorrow,” TUTA said in a press statement.

Earlier, TU professors staged a pendown and sit-in protests to exert pressure on the government and the TU administration to implement the agreement. The association threatened to shut down 60 TU-affiliated colleges and four research centres if their demands were not fulfilled by March 11.

Their demands include payment to university teachers as per the new salary scale implemented after mid-July last year, immediate announcement of vacancies for various posts in line with a taskforce report, maintenance of a hierarchy system for professors, and respect for the university’s autonomy.

Implementation of the semester system only after in-depth discussions and adequate preparations, merger of TU Staff’s Provident Fund with Employees’ Provident Fund, and publication of results within three months of exams are their other demands.

TUTA has further demanded Rs 2,000 minimum addition to monthly academic allowances and insurance for all professors, provisions of health insurance for teachers, and full implementation of rules and regulations governing the university.

source: the himalayan times,8 march 2014